²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Reports Fiscal 2025 Second Quarter Results and Raises Full Year Adjusted Guidance

November 06, 2024

IRVING, Texas, November 6, 2024 - ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ (NYSE:MCK) today announced results for the second quarter ended September 30, 2024.

Second Quarter Highlights:

  • Consolidated revenues of $93.7 billion increased 21%.
  • Earnings per diluted share of $1.87 decreased $3.05.
  • Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share of $7.07 increased 13%.
  • ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ announced an agreement to acquire a controlling interest in Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute LLC’s Core Ventures.
  • ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ announced an agreement to sell its Canada-based Rexall and Well.ca retail businesses.

“²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ reported record revenue of $93.7 billion, representing 21% growth compared to the previous year, and Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share growth of 13% for the second quarter,” said Brian Tyler, chief executive officer. “Our results for the second quarter demonstrated focused execution against our strategy and operating excellence across our businesses. We saw strong growth in our U.S. Pharmaceutical segment, including our leading oncology and specialty distribution capabilities.”

Fiscal 2025 Outlook:

  • Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share guidance range raised to $32.40 to $33.00, from the previous range of $31.75 to $32.55.
  • Fiscal 2025 Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share guidance range indicates 18% to 20% growth compared to prior year.
  • The Company does not forecast GAAP earnings per diluted share1.

Mr. Tyler continued, “As a result of our first half performance and continued confidence across the enterprise over the remainder of the fiscal year, we are raising and narrowing our guidance range for fiscal 2025 Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share to $32.40 to $33.00. We remain confident in our ability to deliver against our fiscal 2025 outlook which is above the long-term targets we have previously provided.”

Fiscal 2025 Second Quarter Result Summary

Second quarter revenues were $93.7 billion, an increase of 21% from a year ago, primarily driven by growth in the U.S. Pharmaceutical segment, which includes onboarding a new strategic partner and increased prescription volumes, including higher volumes from retail national account customers, specialty products, and GLP-1 medications.

Second quarter earnings per diluted share was $1.87 compared to $4.92 a year ago, a decrease of $3.05, due to a charge of $643 million for the fair value remeasurement of assets and liabilities related to ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ’s agreement to sell its Canadian retail businesses and a charge of $227 million related to business rationalization initiatives, partially offset by a reversal of a portion of the prior year provision for bad debts within the U.S. Pharmaceutical segment related to the Rite Aid bankruptcy.

Second quarter Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share was $7.07 compared to $6.23 a year ago, an increase of 13%, driven by growth in the U.S. Pharmaceutical segment and a lower share count. Second quarter Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share also included pre-tax losses of $15 million associated with ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Ventures’ equity investments, compared to pre-tax losses of $10 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2024.

For the first six months of the fiscal year, ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ returned $2.2 billion of cash to shareholders, which included $2.0 billion of common stock repurchases and $162 million of dividend payments. During the first six months of the fiscal year, ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ generated cash from operations of $720 million, and invested $385 million in capital expenditures, resulting in Free Cash Flow of $335 million.

Business Highlights

  • ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ continued to advance and expand its oncology platform.
    • ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ announced an agreement to acquire a controlling interest in Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute LLC’s (FCS) Core Ventures. FCS, a practice with more than 530 providers, will remain independent and join The US Oncology Network (USON). The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including required regulatory clearance.
    • USON expanded its footprint with the addition of Tennessee Cancer Specialists and Illinois CancerCare, adding 118 providers.
  • ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ announced an agreement to sell its Canada-based Rexall and Well.ca retail businesses. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including required regulatory clearance.
  • In October, ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ launched InspiroGene, a dedicated business focused on supporting the commercialization of cell and gene therapies.
  • ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ was named as a “Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion” for the ninth consecutive year. ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ earned a top-ranking score of 100 on the 2024 Disability Equality Index®, a joint initiative of the American Association of People with Disabilities and Disability:IN.

U.S. Pharmaceutical Segment

  • Revenues were $85.7 billion, an increase of 23%, driven by increased prescription volumes, including higher volumes from retail national account customers, specialty products, and GLP-1 medications.
  • Segment Operating Profit was $1.1 billion. Adjusted Segment Operating Profit was $902 million, an increase of 11%, driven by growth in the distribution of specialty products to providers and health systems.

Prescription Technology Solutions Segment

  • Revenues were $1.3 billion, an increase of 11%, driven by increased prescription volumes in our third-party logistics and technology services businesses.
  • Segment Operating Profit was $205 million. Adjusted Segment Operating Profit of $218 million, an increase of 4%, driven by growth in affordability and access solutions, partially offset by investments to support future growth.

Medical-Surgical Solutions Segment

  • Revenues were $2.9 billion, an increase of 4%, driven by higher volumes of specialty pharmaceuticals, including vaccines in the primary care channel.
  • Segment Operating Profit was $89 million. Adjusted Segment Operating Profit was $243 million, a decrease of 4%, driven by lower volumes, customer mix, and product demand shifts across the primary care sites of care, partially offset by growth in the extended care business.

International Segment

  • Revenues were $3.7 billion, an increase of 7%, driven by higher pharmaceutical distribution volumes in the Canadian business.
  • Segment Operating Loss was $508 million. Adjusted Segment Operating Profit was $100 million, an increase of 12%, driven by higher pharmaceutical distribution volumes in the Canadian business and the discontinued recording of depreciation and amortization on Canada-based Rexall and Well.ca retail businesses, which were classified as held for sale during the quarter.

Modernizing and Accelerating the Enterprise

²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ launched a set of initiatives to modernize and accelerate the enterprise, further strengthening its business platforms in support of the continued customer operational excellence and enabling further growth against its long-term objectives.

Fiscal 2025 Outlook

²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ does not provide forward-looking guidance on a GAAP basis as the company is unable to provide a quantitative reconciliation of forward-looking Non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable forward-looking GAAP measure, without unreasonable effort. ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ cannot reasonably forecast LIFO inventory-related adjustments, certain litigation loss and gain contingencies, restructuring, impairment and related charges, and other adjustments, which are difficult to predict and estimate. These items are generally uncertain and depend on various factors, many of which are beyond the company's control, and as such, any associated estimate and its impact on GAAP performance could vary materially.

²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ is raising and narrowing fiscal 2025 Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share guidance to $32.40 to $33.00 from the previous range of $31.75 to $32.55.

Fiscal 2025 Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share guidance includes $0.53 related to year-to-date gains associated with ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Ventures’ equity investments.

²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ is raising its full year share repurchases target from $2.8 billion to $3.2 billion.

Additional modeling considerations will be provided in the earnings call presentation.

Conference Call Details

²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ has scheduled a conference call for today, Wednesday, November 6th at 4:30 PM ET to discuss the company’s financial results. The audio webcast of the conference call will be available live and archived on ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ's Investor Relations website at

Upcoming Investor Events

²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ management will be participating in the following investor events:

  • Sell-Side Update, November 7, 2024
  • Jefferies London Healthcare Conference, November 19, 2024
  • Citi Global Healthcare Conference, December 4, 2024
  • Evercore HealthCONx Conference, December 4, 2024
  • P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, January 13-15, 2025

The audio webcasts, and a complete listing of upcoming events for the investment community, including details and updates, will be available on ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ's Investor Relations website.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

GAAP refers to the U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. This press release includes GAAP financial measures as well as Non-GAAP financial measures, including Adjusted Gross Profit, Adjusted Operating Expenses, Adjusted Other Income, Adjusted Interest Expense, Adjusted Income Tax Expense, Adjusted Earnings, Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share, Adjusted Segment Operating Profit, Adjusted Segment Operating Profit Margin, Adjusted Corporate Expenses, Adjusted Operating Profit, and Free Cash Flow which are financial measures not calculated in accordance with GAAP. Refer to the “Supplemental Non-GAAP Financial Information” section of the accompanying financial statement tables for the definitions and usefulness of the company’s Non-GAAP financial measures and the attached schedules for reconciliations of the differences between the Non-GAAP financial measures and their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.

Cautionary Statements

This earnings release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements may be identified by their use of terminology such as “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “approximately,” “intends,” “projects,” “plans,” “estimates,” “targets,” or the negative of these words or other comparable terminology. The discussion of anticipated transaction closings, financial outlook, guidance, trends, strategy, plans, assumptions, expectations, commitments, and intentions may also include forward-looking statements. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, such as financial performance forecasts, which speak only as of the date they are first made. Except to the extent required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise our forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated, or implied. Although it is not possible to predict or identify all such risks and uncertainties, we encourage investors to read the risk factors described in our publicly available filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and news releases.

These risk factors include, but are not limited to: we experience costly and disruptive legal disputes and settlements, including regarding our role in distributing controlled substances such as opioids; we might experience losses not covered by insurance or indemnification; we are subject to frequently changing, extensive, complex, and challenging healthcare and other laws; we might be adversely impacted by regulatory delays or other difficulties with acquisitions or divestitures such as the transactions described in this press release; we from time to time record significant charges from impairment to goodwill, intangibles, and other long-lived assets; we experience cybersecurity incidents that might significantly compromise our technology systems or might result in material data breaches; we may be unsuccessful in achieving our strategic growth objectives; we may be unsuccessful in our efforts to implement initiatives to reduce or optimize our costs; we are impacted by customer purchase reductions, contract non-renewals, payment defaults, and bankruptcies; our contracts with government entities involve future funding and compliance risks; we might be harmed by changes in our relationships or contracts with suppliers; our use of third-party data is subject to limitations that could impede the growth of our data services business; we might be adversely impacted by healthcare reform such as changes in pricing and reimbursement models; we might be adversely impacted by competition and industry consolidation; we are adversely impacted by changes or disruptions in product supply and have had difficulties in sourcing or selling products due to a variety of causes; we might be adversely impacted as a result of our distribution of generic pharmaceuticals; we might be adversely impacted by changes in the economic environments in which we operate; changes affecting capital and credit markets might impede access to credit, increase borrowing costs, and disrupt banking services for us and our customers and suppliers and might impair the financial soundness of our customers and suppliers; we might be adversely impacted by changes in tax legislation or challenges to our tax positions; we might be adversely impacted by events outside of our control, such as widespread public health issues, natural disasters, political events and other catastrophic events; we may be adversely affected by global climate change or by legal, regulatory, or market responses to such change; and governance issues and regulations, including those related to social issues, climate change, and sustainability, and stakeholder response thereto may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations and damage our reputation.

About ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ

²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ is a diversified healthcare services leader dedicated to advancing health outcomes for patients everywhere. Our teams partner with biopharma companies, care providers, pharmacies, manufacturers, governments, and others to deliver insights, products and services to help make quality care more accessible and affordable. Learn more about how ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ is impacting virtually every aspect of healthcare at ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ.com and read Our Stories.

Tables and full text of earnings release also available for viewing and download in PDF format: ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ Reports Fiscal 2025 Second Quarter Results (PDF, 281 KB).

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